Yashica cameras and a whole lot more!

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Month November 2015

Another slight departure from the Pentamatics. Here is a beautiful Yashica-Mat EM from around mid 1964. Everything works on this camera… the built-in exposure meter works like a charm (no batteries required) and the shutter is spot on. Of course what would a picture of a classic Yashica be without one of the ‘Sailor Boys’ posing alongside. The marketing doll is from around early 1962 and he was made in many different versions. The EM is a twin-lens reflex (TLR) film camera and was made by the talented craftspeople at Yashica’s factory in Shimosuwa, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. A true work of art that has stood the test of time.

A nice collection of different versions of Yashica’s ‘Sailor Boys’. In my travels I’ve discovered other Yashica marketing “dolls” but this just about covers them all. I know there’s a Christmas candle ‘Sailor Boy’ with matching Christmas box. If you’ve seen others please feel free to share them with me. Thanks!

The only difference we can tell between the original Yashica Pentamatic ’35’ and the Pentamatic II (which came out in August 1960), is the standard lens that came with the camera body.

The original Pentamatic came with the Auto-Yashinon, f/1.8, 5.5cm semi (fully?) automatic 6 element lens. Of course it has the unique Pentamatic bayonet mount and not the M42 screw mount. The Pentamatic II came with the Auto-Yashinon, f/1.7, 5.8cm lens (pictured below). The f/1.8 lens was made for Yashica by Tomioka Optical of Tokyo. New evidence uncovered by us (Oct 2017) indicates that the f/1.7 lens was made by Zunow Optical. It’s a beautiful lens and weighs a ton and is rather rare today at under 6,000 lenses made. It has 10 aperture blades.

Update July 2017 – The Pentamatic II was only for sale in the Japanese home market and for only a short time (Aug 1960 to Jan 1961). Less than 6,000 cameras were made and of course about the same amount of these lenses. No English language sales brochures have been found that mention or feature the Pentamatic II. No advertisements either in English language newspapers or magazines.

What happened to Yashica’s first ever 35mm single lens reflex (SLR) camera… the Pentamatic? After nearly two years of producing the original Pentamatic, it’s virtually gone from the major photography magazines in the U.S. and after nearly a year of production, no mention of the second model in the Pentamatic series the Pentamatic II. In the February 1962 issue of Modern Photography magazine, I counted only three small ads for the Pentamatic and no ads (large or small) for the Pentamatic II. Why did Yashica let the Pentamatic go away so quickly? I’m still searching for the first advertisement that mentions the model II. I have seen the model II in Japanese domestic market sales brochures so I know that Yashica at least advertised the camera at home. No English language ads as of yet. I will say that I don’t have all the photography magazines from 1961, 1962 or 1963 so I’m basing my info or a rather small sample size. I do have Japanese language sales brochures that advertise the model I and II together and as best as I can tell, the ads are from very late 1960 to very early 1961. So my search continues and my questions remain unanswered for the moment. These two ads appeared in the February 1962 issue of Modern Photography magazine. Both ads were from major camera retailers in New York City.

Our best timeline for the development of the Yashica Pentamatic 35mm single-lens reflex (SLR) film camera… Pentamatic ’35’

Please note that this is a “dynamic timeline” and it will be updated as we discover new dates and developments…

Summer 1959… Yashica develops / invents its first 35mm SLR

September 1959… Yashica files to trademark the name ‘Pentamatic’ in Japan

October 1959… Tomioka starts production of a new lens for the Pentamatic. f/1.8 5.5cm

December 1959… First Pentamatics assembled at the Suwa factory

February 1960… Yashica files to trademark the name ‘Pentamatic’ in the U.S.

March 1960… Production reaches 1,500 units

March 1960… First showing of the Pentamatic occurs at a trade show in St. Louis… first images of the camera are provided by Yashica

April 1960… First published look at the Pentamatic in the May 1960 issue of Modern Photography magazine

May 1960… First full page advertisements for the Pentamatic ’35’ appear in the June 1960 issues of Modern Photography, PopularPhotography and U.S. Camera magazines and the Pentamatic is available at Yashica dealers by early May

June 1960… Production reaches 5,000 units

June 1960… First review of the camera appears in the July issue of Modern Photography magazine

August 1960… Production reaches 9,300 units

August 1960… The Pentamatic II goes into production. Sold only in Japan

August 1960… Zunow produces a new lens for the Pentamatic II. f/1.7 5.8cm

Winter 1960-1961… The Pentamatic I and II are are both sold in Japan

December 1960… Camera dealers in New York advertise new Pentamatics at under $110 (USD)

January 1961… Production reaches 15,700 units

January 1961… The Pentamatic S goes into production

January 1961… The Pentamatic II ends production at under 6,000 units

February 1962… February issue of Modern Photography has only two advertisements for the Pentamatic and NO mention of the Pentamatic II or Pentamatic S

Late 1961… The Pentamatic models are replaced by the Penta J

End of Production… About 30,000 Pentamatic cameras (all models) are made over 3 years

August 1963… ‘Pentamatic’ receives trademark registration in the U.S.

By January 1961, some pretty strong discounts on the original Pentamatic I. No Pentamatic S advertised.

First look at the new camera in the May 1960 issue of Modern Photography.

The Yashica Pentamatic has always fascinated me from the moment I first caught a glimpse of it while doing research on the Yashima / Yashica Company. It was (and still is) a strange-looking camera… so 1960s and it was Yashica’s very first 35mm single-lens reflex (SLR) camera. I love its sleek lines and simple design… and it was just a little bit “quirky”. My first 35mm SLR was the very popular and stylish Yashica TL Electro-X (in satin chrome finish) which I purchased in early 1972. That camera was big and heavy just like the Pentamatic… lots of brass and glass as they say. The exposure system was a through the lens (TTL) affair that used two red arrows to guide you in adjusting the shutter speed and aperture to obtain a properly exposed image. It was fairly accurate and easy to use but under some low light conditions the meter would be off as much as 1/2 to 1 full “f stops” especially when shooting with color slide film for transparencies. I used that Yashica through my first year of living in Yokohama before purchasing a Canon F-1 in 1978. Why the departure from Yashica? Simple, when comparing the new Contax RTS to the F-1, in my opinion, there was no contest. I also liked the system that Canon offered and the wide array of professional accessories and lenses.

So back to the Pentamatic. When I started to concentrate my research on the Pentamatic, I found nothing but confusing and contradicting information on the internet (as is typical of anything). No clear images of the camera, no images of its boxes or the accessories available. The release date was especially bothersome as it was all over the map and even now many sites still give the wrong introduction date in the U.S. The specifications of the cameras are often wrong or incomplete and when I did find solid proof of something, it made the existing entries even more out of line with reality. The Pentamatic series of SLRs (the original model I, model II and the model S) never sold in vast quantities (the original Pentamatic model I was produced at around 1,500 units per month at its peak of production) as best as I can tell, so finding a complete set was rare and finding sales brochures was even more daunting.

My quest was simple (I thought)… purchase a few Pentamatics and find a few instruction booklets and I would be all set. Wrong! Yashica normally does not date their cameras, lenses and publications (instruction booklets, warranty cards, accessory pamphlets and sales brochures) so I knew that I had my work cut out for me. On the other side of the coin, my Canon collection has dates everywhere! I can honestly say that I’ve never found something from Canon that was not dated in some way. Why didn’t Yashica do the same? I did discover eventually that from about 1956 or so onward Yashica (then Yashima) did date many of their photography booklets and featured pictures of their factories in Nagano Prefecture and of their headquarters in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo. Many of these early booklets even had pictures of the president and founder (Mr. Yoshimasa Ushiyama) of Yashima… not often seen in other camera manufacturer’s publications. The practice of dating publications slowly vanished around late 1958 and by 1960 was basically gone. It wasn’t until the late 1960s and early 1970s that Yashica would occasionally slip in a date on a publication (but never on the camera or lens).

In summary… I don’t have all the answers to my Pentamatic questions and I am constantly updating information as I receive it both here on my blog and on my Flickr page (Yashica Sailor Boy). My goal is to be as accurate as I can, fill in the blanks and share whatever I have with others. I encourage comments and would gladly receive any and all bits of info that you may want to share with me. Thank you for visiting my page!

Chris

Nice Pentamatic model II page from a Yashica sales brochure from February 1961. Not a bad price in Japan at that time… about $110 (USD) with case. When introduced in mid 1960, the original model I was listed at about $159 (USD) here in the U.S.

Nice find for me from a collector in Japan. The first detailed sales brochure from Japan that included the Pentamatic I and II. This page is from the accessories part of the brochure.

A very complete listing of the lenses available (and prices) for the Pentamatic series from late 1960 or very early 1961. These lenses were built for Yashica by Tomioka Optical at their Tokyo factory. The only lenses missing are the original f/1.8 5.5cm lens (for the original Pentamatic) and the f/1.7 5.8cm lens for the model II. I have in my collection the 35mm, the 135mm, the 55mm and the 58mm.

…of cameras were available in the Japanese domestic market. It had been speculated by some (including myself) that the Pentamatic was not available in Japan when it was released into the U.S. markets in the May-June 1960 time period. My reason was solely based on the fact that up until this point no Japanese language sales brochures or advertisements had been discovered during my research. I always found it rather odd to think that Yashica’s first 35mm single-lens reflex (SLR) camera would not be available in Japan. It is generally known that Yashica made the photographic press in the U.S. aware of the new model as early as late March 1960 when the Pentamatic made its appearance at a large photography trade show in St. Louis.

The elusive Pentamatic II in a Japanese sales brochure most likely from late 1960 to very early 1961. The brochure covers the new model II and its accessories over a full 12 pages. The selling price was 37,300 yen for the model II and 34,800 yen for the original model I. It also appears that the “new” lens of choice for this model II would be the f/1.7 5.8cm lens made by Tomioka Optical and displaying the name ‘Auto Yashinon’. I had suspected that the 1.7 lens was dedicated for the model II but had no proof. The model I Pentamatic came with the f/1.8 5.5cm lens which was also made by Tomioka in Tokyo.

Amazing Tomioka lens for the Yashica Pentamatic series of SLR cameras. Yashica’s lenses were always (as best as I can tell) made for them by world-famous Tomioka Optical in their Tokyo factory. Sometimes you’ll find a lens that carries both a “Yashica” name and a “Tomioka” name on the lens ring. This rather rare lens sports only the Tomioka names… Tominon and Tomioka! This lens of course has the unique Pentamatic bayonet mount and would not fit any other cameras without an adapter. What I like most is the extremely low serial number… #614 in the production run. The entire serial number dates this lens as made in 1960 and the sequence production number of 00614.

Super rare very early production Pentamatic-S. NO. 120011 would have been made in the Suwa factory of Yashica in February 1961 and it was the 11th one off the production line! Amazing. These two items were recently available from a collector in Japan which helps me believe that the Pentamatic series was in fact released for the Japanese domestic market.